Which Curriculum You Should Choose!

Staying in India, and being a parent, we usually face this question of the comparison between the ICSE, CBSE, IB and IGCSE board. Since the time a child is born, parents get worried about the education and career of the child. Deciding which board is best for the child, is one of the toughest decision parents have to take. Though most of us are aware of the boards but, we usually are in dilemma when it comes to the admission of our kids.

Here, in this post we have tried to give a brief insight on various important curricular boards followed in India and some pros and cons of the same.

Brief about ICSE:

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE Board) conducts two examinations, Indian Certificate for Secondary Education (ICSE) examination towards the end of class 10th and an Indian School Certificate (ISC) examination towards the end of class 12th. It’s an offshoot of the University of Cambridge that existed during the British regime and is now governed by the ‘Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations’.

Let’s see what are the hidden characteristics of ICSE?

ICSE gives a lot of stress on the languages. Especially, English and Hindi are too extensively done, with novels as textbooks. So anyone wanting a career in English Literature and languages, ICSE is a very good bet.

ICSE curriculum is too extensive and elaborate when it comes to subjects like Mathematics and Sciences as compared to other boards. They expect their students to know everything in these subjects. For eg, there are many a chapters in mathematics like banking, logarithms etc which have become obsolete in CBSE right now.

ICSE class 10th and ISC 12th board examination are considered to be the toughest one in India right now.

ICSE gives importance to practical knowledge especially in Sciences.

Now for those who are still confused between ICSE and CBSE, we have tried to give a precise comparison of CBSE and ICSE, stated as follows:

CBSE has both English and Hindi language as the medium of instructions, ICSE does not recommend Hindi.

CBSE is affiliated to a large number of schools all over India. The board allows both regular candidates, who study in CBSE schools, as well as private candidates to appear in the exams. Contrary to this, ICSE does not allow any candidate, other than the ones studying in an ICSE affiliated school, to appear for the exams.

The certificates provided by both of them are globally valid, yet CBSE has a better footing in India as compared to ICSE.

The syllabus prepared by CBSE is more suitable for qualifying in various entrance examinations, including the medical and engineering professional exam like IIT-JEE, AIEEE and AIPMT.

The syllabus of ICSE is very detailed and requires a student to remember a lot. CBSE is comparatively easier, especially in higher classes.

Students of both the boards can sit for exams like SOF Olympiads, MARRS Spell Bee etc.

Some exams like PSA, NTSE, and many scholarship programs are run only by CBSE.

In a city like Delhi, the tutors teaching CBSE syllabus are easily accessible whereas in the case of ICSE, it is difficult to find tutors due to a low number of schools following this board. On the other hand, in cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore, ICSE tutors are in easy to find.

CBSE affiliated schools are easier to find when you move to a new place.

There is no particular text book prescribed by ICSE for any class, where as CBSE prescribes a standard NCERT book all over the country with almost zero error.

For those who want to know about IB and IGCSE board,we have tried to consolidate main points about both the boards:

International Baccalaureate (IB) is an international foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and founded in 1968.

Now let’s have a brief look at the features of IB and IGCSE board.

The curriculum is based on practical application and experimentation and is recognised by most of the universities of the world, unlike CBSE and ICSE.

Schools affiliated to IB board have better infrastructure and it’s the best option for NRI parents or the families planning to shift abroad.

Fees is on a higher side as compared to other boards.

The schools affiliated to IB board is found mostly in metropolitan cities and Tier-1 cities in India.

Books of IB board are very expensive.

Tuitions and books are not easily available in India.

IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) is an internationally used, specialized in English curriculum which is offered to students to prepare them for International Baccalaureate and CIE A-level.

Few of the characteristics of IGCSE are listed below:

IGCSE is recognized by most of the Universities in the world.

Students can apply to foreign universities wherein CBSE and ICSE board is not recognised.

IGCSE curriculum is more advanced and application based and it provides a variety of subjects to choose from.

It’s one of the best options, if parents are NRI or plan to move abroad.

Fee of IGCSE board is on the higher side and the schools are found in metropolitan cities and Tier-1 cities of India.

Tuitions and books of IGCSE curriculum are expensive and are difficult to find in India.

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2 comments

Hi, its a nice article. Most of them would be confused to take the right decision when it comes to choosing the right curriculum for their children. So your brief article should be of help for students to take the correct decision.